U.S. patent number 5,318,307 [Application Number 08/048,238] was granted by the patent office on 1994-06-07 for super tir-tac-poc tossing game.
Invention is credited to Marcel Bouchard, Raymond Fortin.
United States Patent |
5,318,307 |
Bouchard , et al. |
June 7, 1994 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Super tir-tac-poc tossing game
Abstract
A game of skill and strategy that can be played on almost any
surfaces (grass, sand, water, cement, etc.), indoors as well as
outdoors. This game shows some resemblance with "tic-tac-toe". The
game comprises a reception frame divided into nine squares and four
groups of disks, two for each player. The squares from targets to
be hit with the disks. The first set of disks is made up of at
least nine disks of the same diameter, density and thickness. The
second set has only three disks of a larger diameter than those of
the first group. The larger size of the disks of the second set
makes them harder to lodge in the target squares. This is
compensated by the fact that a larger disk can remove one of the
opponent's disks and take possession of the square. First, the
players take turns trying to toss the small disk into the squares.
After this phase, they use the larger disks to try to dislodge the
opposing player's disks and gain an advantage on him.
Inventors: |
Bouchard; Marcel (St-Henri de
Levis, Quebec G0R 3E0, CA), Fortin; Raymond (Beauport
Quebec G1C 6R2, CA) |
Family
ID: |
4150873 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/048,238 |
Filed: |
April 19, 1993 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
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|
|
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Dec 18, 1992 [CA] |
|
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2,085,764 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
273/348.4;
273/271; 273/350; 273/400; 273/DIG.30; 273/402; 273/399 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B
67/06 (20130101); A63B 2225/605 (20130101); A63B
2067/065 (20130101); A63B 2209/10 (20130101); A63B
2225/76 (20200801); A63F 3/00094 (20130101); Y10S
273/30 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63B
67/06 (20060101); A63F 3/00 (20060101); A63B
067/06 () |
Field of
Search: |
;273/346,271,336,337,338,398,399,400,401,402,424,428,350,DIG.30 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Grieb; William H.
Claims
We claim:
1. A tossing game in which two players take turns tossing pieces
that identify each player;
said game being comprised of a square reception frame divided into
nine square zones of identical size and of playing pieces to be
tossed into said zones;
the playing pieces of each player being divided in two categories:
the first category formed of pieces of a first size; the second
being made up of pieces of a second size, larger than the first
size, said second size pieces being harder to lodge in the square
zones, said second size pieces being less numerous than the first
size pieces and having, by definition of the rules, the ability to
remove any other pieces already lodged in the targeted square
zone;
the tossing of the pieces in said zones permitting to complete
vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines or to occupy by at least one
piece of a player's the four corner zones.
2. A game as described in claim 1 wherein said ability to remove
pieces is carried out by the players themselves.
3. A game as described in claim 1 wherein the pieces assigned to
each player are identified by two (2) different symbols.
4. A game as described in claim 1 wherein there are nine (9) to
twelve (12) first type pieces per player and three (3) second type
pieces per player.
5. A game as described in claim 1 wherein the playing pieces of
each player comprise two categories: the first category formed of
disk like pieces of a first size; the second being made up of disk
like pieces of a second size larger than the first size.
6. A game as described in claim 5 wherein the size of the pieces
permits to fit at least nine (9) small pieces in a square bottom
zone and at the most five (5) large pieces in the same or
equivalent square zone.
7. A game as described in claim 5 wherein the pieces are disks of
first and second size, said first size pieces being of at least the
same thickness as the first size pieces.
8. A game as described in claim 7 wherein said disks of the second
size are 50% thicker than said disks of the first size.
9. A game as described in claim 5 wherein said square zones
comprise borders of twice the thickness of said first size
disks.
10. A game as described in claim 1 wherein said zones comprise
borders made of inflatable material.
11. A game as described in claim 10 wherein said borders comprise a
flat bottom attached to said borders to retain said projectiles and
further including means for water circulation through said
bottom.
12. A game as described in claim 11 wherein means for water
circulation comprise openings in said flat bottom.
13. A tossing game in which two players take turns tossing pieces
that identify each player;
said game being comprised of a Square reception frame divided into
the nine square zones of identical areas and of playing pieces to
be tossed into said zones;
the playing pieces of each player being divided in two categories:
the first category formed of pieces of a first type of projectile;
the second category being made up of second type of projectile
harder to lodge in the square zones, said second type being less
numerous than the first category and having, by definition of the
rules, the ability to remove any other projectiles already lodged
in the targeted square zone;
the tossing of the projectiles in said zones permitting to complete
vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines or to occupy by at least one
piece of a player's the four corner zones.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to pitch games utilizing disk-type throwing
devices and a frame designed to receive the disks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A past art patent search was conducted and a list of patents which
appeared to us to be most pertinent to the invention follows.
NL 7,415,769, Reunders concerns a game using balls that are thrown
onto a flat board divided into nine zones. These zones are
identified by letters (A, B, C) and numbers (1, 2, 3). Each zone is
pierced at its center with a hole to receive the balls.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,656 Jun. 23, 1992, Green represents a target
made of vertical receptacles, internal and external. This target
may receive many kinds of small projectiles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,139, May 5, 1992, Baumgartner illustrates a
game using disks that are tossed into a receptacle placed at a
certain distance. The receptacle is divided into zones to which are
attributed different scores.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,441, Jul. 10, 1992, Novinsky represents a
disk-like projectile. The weight of the projectile can be modified
by removing the central part of the disk.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,590, Jun. 26, 1990, Palmer describes a pitch
game utilizing disk-type throwing devices and a standing platform
designed to catch and retain the disks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,553,758, Nov. 19, 1985, Zehr refers to a disk that
can bounce on water a great number of times.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,046, Jul. 26, 1983, Cosmopoulos illustrates a
disk designed to bounce on water.
CN 2,0927,388 is a game made up of fork-like pickets and ring
projectiles.
CN 1,181,446 uses the principle of tick-tack-toe*. Projectiles made
of little sacks filled with loose material are tossed onto a
receptacle frame that can be magnetic.
A tick-tack-toe game available in stores is made of a frame holding
nine rectangular tilting targets. Upon the impact of a projectile,
the target rotates and displays an "X" or an "O".
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The goal is to design a game of skill, strategy and competition
that can be played by two players on almost any surfaces (grass,
sand, water, cement, etc.), indoors as well as outdoors, and that
uses some elements of tick-tack-toe (these being the vertical,
horizontal and diagonal lines that indicate a success). The game is
made up of a square reception frame divided into nine squares and
two kinds of disks each divided in two sets. Each player receives a
set of each kind. The first type of disk is much smaller than the
squares of the frame and is usually easy to toss into a square. The
second type of disks is of a size approaching the dimension of a
square, which makes it much harder to toss into the target square.
The increased difficulty of placing a larger disk in a square is
rewarded by the fact that the player can remove his adversary's
disk in that square if he succeeds his throw.
Our invention uses sets of disks of various dimensions destined to
be tossed onto horizontally placed reception frame and not to be
thrown as flying disks.
The uniqueness of our invention lies in the fact that it adds the
skills and precision of a tossing game to the tactics of
tick-tack-toe, made more complex by the presence and capabilities
of the larger disks. As opposed to conventional tick-tack-toe the
game cannot end unless there is a winner. More over, the design of
our invention can be adapted for use on water.
A more particular overall objective is to provide a tossing game in
which two players take turns tossing pieces that identify each
player; the game comprising a square reception frame divided into
nine square zones of identical size, and playing pieces to be
tossed into the zones; the playing pieces of each player being
divided in two categories: the first category formed of pieces of
small diameter relatively easy to lodge in a square zone; the
second being made up of large diameter pieces more difficult to
lodge in the square zone and thus having the ability to remove the
other pieces; the tossing of the pieces in the zones permitting to
complete vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines or to occupy by at
least one piece of a player's the four corner zones. In the tossing
game the size of the pieces is to permit to fit at least nine (9)
small pieces in a square zone and at the most five (5) large pieces
in a square zone and the borders between the square zones are to be
twice the thickness of the disks.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the reception frame.
FIG. 2 is a top view of the reception frame and two disks.
FIG. 3A is a front view according to line 3A--3A of FIG. 2.
FIG. 3B shows a cross-sectional view along line 3B--3B of FIG.
2.
FIG. 3C shows a cross-sectional view along line 3C--3C of FIG.
3
FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate perspective views of the two disks of
FIG. 2.
FIGS. 4C-4F show top views of disks of FIG. 4A and of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4G-4H are front views of the disks of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B.
FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a folding reception frame, an
alternative to FIG. 1.
FIG. 6 is another alternative showing an inflatable reception
frame.
FIG. 7A is a top view of the inflatable frame of FIG. 6.
FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view along line 7B--7B of FIG. 7A.
FIG. 7C is a cross-sectional view along line 7C--7C of FIG. 7A.
FIG. 8A is another alternative frame using VELCRO.
FIG. 8B shows a cross-section of the reception frame of FIG.
8A.
FIG. 9 shows an exploded view of the a reception frame
assembly.
FIG. 10A illustrates a top view of a table top mode with a
launching system for downsized disks.
FIG. 10B is a cut according to line 10 B of FIG. 10A.
FIG. 11A is a top view of table model frame.
FIG. 11B is a cut view according to line 11B--11B of FIG. 11A.
FIG. 11C is a cut view according to line 11C--11C of FIG. 11A.
With reference to FIG. 1, we can see a preferred reception frame 10
used as a target. The frame is square and divided by borders 12
into 9 identical square zones 14 laid out in three rows of three
squares each: that is a lower row 16, a middle row 18, a top row
20.
In that configuration the borders have rounded top edges as seen in
FIG. 3C. The border's sides have a small thickness relative to the
length of a square's edge 14. The edges of the squares have a
length of about 12 inches and the borders FIG. 3C a width and
height of 11/2 inch. The radius of the rounded edges is of about
5/8 of an inch. The outer top edges of the frame remain at a right
angle.
As seen on FIG. 4B, the game includes eleven small disks 22 and
three larger disks 24 marked with an "X" and also eleven small
disks 26 and 3 large ones 28 marked with an "O". The diameter of
the small disks 22 and 26 is about one third of a square's interior
length. The width and height of the borders 12 is about twice the
thickness of the disks 22, 24, 26, 28.
The small disks 22 and 26 have a diameter around 4 inches and a
thickness of about 3/4 of an inch. The large disks 24 and 28 have a
diameter of about 5 inches and a thickness of about 3/4 of an inch.
The diameter of the large disks 24 and 28 are 40 to 60% shorter
than the side of the nine square zones. This makes the area of the
large disks 25% of the area of a square zone.
For the small and large disks, the dimension, material used and its
rigidity, colour, and the marks "O" and "X" are not limitative
factors of the construction. The small disks number at 11 per
player, that is one per square zone and two spares. There is three
large disks per player, one for each row.
Moreover the reception frame can be fashioned into a folding unit
as seen on FIG. 5. The dimensions, position (horizontal or
vertical) and rigidity of the material used are not limitative
factors in the construction of the frame.
Since the borders have twice the thickness of the disks, two disks
can fall atop one another inside a square zone without bouncing
offside too easily. The borders can be made foldable--FIG. 5--with
the use of a hinge 30. In that case, the borders are preferably
rigid.
In another configuration--FIG. 6--the target zones comprise borders
made of inflatable material and may comprise a flat bottom attached
to said borders to retain said projectiles and further including
means for water circulation. Further more, means for water
circulation comprise openings in said flat bottom. In this
embodiment the borders 32 are made of inflatable material. The
bottom of the square zones 34 is flat and attached by an adhesive
36 to the inflatable borders, as seen on FIG. 7. Thus the structure
can retain the projectiles 40. It should be noted that this bottom
is not water-tight and is pierced with apertures or openings 39 to
let water flow through. Attaching points are provided to anchor the
game in water.
In the case of a configuration using VELCRO--FIG. 8--, the disk
projectiles would have a tendency to stick to the border. To
compensate, the borders 47 are made sensibly higher.
Another variant is a smaller tabletop version of the game--FIG.
10--. It uses the same rules as the official game and has also the
same general proportions. The major difference lies in the use of a
small springboard to propel the downsized disks in the air towards
the reception frame. The spring forms a catapult and is preferably
set at eleven (11) inches from any border also of 11 inches.
The reception frame and disks in any configuration can be
fluorescent or phosphorescent. We have observed that the use of a
phosphorescent frame and playing pieces creates a lack of
perspective. The difference in difficulty between tossing the small
and large disks in the square zones is thus augmented. The contrast
between the phosphorescent borders and the dark squares makes the
target zones appear twice smaller. The chance to hit a target
square with a small disk is reduced by 35%. With a large disk, the
probability is reduced by 50%. The overall difficulty of the game
is augmented by 25% when played in the evening.
RULES OF THE GAME
The game is played by two players or by teams of two, for a total
of four (4) players. The beginning player or team is chosen at
random, heads or tail. The adversaries take turns tossing the disks
in one of the nine zones of the reception frame.
The goal is to line horizontally, vertically or diagonally, three
disks of a same set (ex.: "X") to realize a "tick-tack-toe". The
large disks have the ability to remove an adversary's small or
large disk. When a player succeeds in a "Tick-tack-toe", his
opponent has only one chance to block him. If he succeeds, the game
goes on; otherwise the game is over.
A success is also achieved if four disks of a same player occupy
the four corners of the reception frame. The distance between the
players and the reception frame is left at the discretion of the
opponents. The recommended distance is 12 feet, for the standard
model game, or generally twelve (12) times the length of side of
the square.
As a variation of the subject invention a point system may be
installed with the same mechanical system and because of the
combination of the two sizes of disks, namely permitting a
cumulation of points resulting from the strategic utilization of
the superior disk: for example a single line completed with the
small disk corresponds to five (5 ) points; the same line completed
with a superior disk yields ten (10) points; a double line (two
Tick-tack-toe at the same time) yields twenty (20) points. The
players may chose to use the superior disk in the attacking phase
instead of strictly defensively, which accentuates the complexity
of the game, given the restricted number of superior disks. In this
manner the game may last a longer time and create champions.
Other variations are possible and limited only/by the scope of the
appended claims:
* * * * *